Friday, May 20, 1983 15
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Gittelson's Vewtsh View of Maniage'
*7
By ALLEN A. WARSE N
that Christianity, since its
Rabbi Roland B. Gittel-
"Despite recent increa ses very beginnings, had a son
concludes has com-
in divorce rates, y our negative attitude towards prehensive
study, "A
o
chance for success is pr b.. marriage and sex. Thus Jewish View on Marriage"
ably greater than that of Jesus, unlike his Jewish as follows:
any preceding generati on. contemporaries, never mar-
"I have tried in these
Like them, your resour ces ried. He is quoted as having
to describe the ideal
include a great body of per_ said, ". . . everyone who pages
marriage, aware of the fact
ceptive insight into the looks at a woman lustfully that
few couples will
meaning of marriage, m ade has already committed fully very
achieve it. There are
available to you throu gh adultery with her in his no
perfect marriages be-
Jewish tradition.
heart."
cause
there are no perfect
"But you can draw al so
St. Jerome's attitude
upon much modern kno wl- was even more extreme.
edge which was proba bly He wrote, "He who loves
unknown. Many branc hes his own wife too ardently
of science — biology, a n- is an adulterer."
thropology, sociology, p sy
Tertullian maintained
By HERBERT LUFT
chology above all — co m- that "the natural beauty of
(Copyright 1983, JTA, Inc.)
bine to suggest the be st women ought to be obliter-
James Caan was the pre-
routes to success. That s uc- ated by concealment and senter
at the memorial
cess will require more th an neglect, since it is danger- candlelighting
ceremony on
the reading of books.
ous to those who look upon Yom Hashoa, Day of Re-
"All that can even be at- it."
membrance = of the
tempted-in these pages is to
Even the 19th Century Holocaust in Los Angeles.
gather, in one convenie nt Protestant philosopher
Tom Bradley, Israeli
place, as much as possible of Soren Kierkegaard consid- Mayor
Consul
Benyamin
the wisdom provided by ered marriage an abomina- Navon, 'General
film
producer
Jerry
Judaism and science."
tion. He wrote:
Weintraub, builder Ab-
The above passage is
"It is an abominable lie to
Spiegel and indus-
from the volume title d, say that marriage is pleas- raham
trialist Nathan Shapell also
"The Extra Dimension: a ing to God. From the Chris- participated
in the cere-
Jewish View of Ma r- tian point of view, it is a mony.
riage," authorized by Ro- crime and what is odious
Caan• explained his own
land B. Gittelson and about it is that by this very involvement
in the
published by the Union of crime the innocent hndi- Holocaust. The actor is the
American Hebrew Con- vidual was introduced into son of German Jews who
gregations.
that company of criminals managed to come to
The narrative commences which is human life."
America. While his
with various definitions of
However, in recent years mother's brother and sister
love. One reads: "Love is the more and more Christians became
of the
passionate and abiding de- have been abandoning the Holocaust, victims
Caan was born
sire on the part of two or traditional religious view in
New York, March 26,
more people to produce to- on sex and marriage.
1939.
He participated in the
gether the conditions under
In contrast, Judaism Yom Hashoah ceremony be-
which each can be and spon- has a positive and realis- • cause
doesn't want man-
taneously express his real tic approach to sex and kind to he forget.
self; to produce together an marriage. According to
Caan, Israel is a model
intellectual soil and an the Talmud, "a man shall of To modern
life. The
emotional climate in which first take into himself a
.of the new
each can flourish, far wife and then study To- achievements
democracy, from economics
superior to what either rah."
to
military strategy and dip-
could achieve alone."
The author points out lomacy, makes one proud to
The author notes that that the Bible's shortest be a Jew, he noted.
love also involves "volun- book is in its entirety de-
As a Jew, he is con-
tary participation in the voted to the physical side of
pains of another person no love. "True, Jewish tradi- cerned about anti ,
less than in his or her joys." tion," he writes, "considered Semitism. To remember
Perceptive is the author's `Song of Songs' to be an alle- now the victims of the
differentiation between gory depicting the mutual Holocaust is one sure
love and infatuation. Thus love between God and the way to combat bigotry
infatuation is physical; love Jewish people. But this was and hatred.
is both physical and undoubtedly a latter subli-
On the screen, Caan has
spiritual; love is enduring, mation of what had origi- reflected the many faces of
infatuation is mere self- nally been a beautifully America. In "Funny Lady,"
gratification. Where love is poetic series of passionate opposite Barbra Streisand,
idealistic, infatuation is love songs."
he was the soft-spoken Billy
It is well to remember Rose; in "Chapter Two," he
idealized.
Similarly, illuminating that one of the Torah's posi- portrayed the anguished
is the author's differ- tive commandments pro- widower Neil Simon. With
entiation between the vides for procreation. It his portrayal in "Thief," he
concepts physical and states: "Be fertile and mul returned to the impetuous
spiritual. The human tiply; fill the earth."
characterization of the
brain, for example, is
Realistic were the in- "Godfather's" Sonny Car-
physical; the mind is sights on love by the ex- leone, who lives and dies by
spiritual. When a human positors of Judiaism. They the gun.
being thinks, elec- knew that "Love means a
Educated at Michigan
trochemical currents are total sharing of life between State
University and
released in his brain. But husband and wife."
Hofstra
College, Caan was
these are "physical man-
A sage once said, "He seeking an athletic career.
ifestations of thought."
who has no wife remains Instead, he turned to study
Interesting is this obser- without good, without a drama
and appeared off-
vation: "The spiritual ph- helper, without joy, with- Broadway
in Schnitzler's
ases of life are referred to as out a blessing . . ."
a person's soul. They in-
Another sage added, "He
Prize Winner
clude the capacity to create is not a whole man."
and/or appreciate truth,
Still another sage re-
NEW YORK — Dr. David
beauty and moral goodness. marked, "The unmarried Berger,
a Yeshiva Univer-
"Just as thought and man diminishes the like- sity alumnus and visiting
truth are not physical, so ness of God."
professor, has won the John
beauty and ethical values
A medieval mystic ob- Nicholas Brown Prize from
are not physical. We often served, "The `Shechina' — the Medieval Academy of
recognize them in physical God's presence — can rest America for his book, "The
form, but they are them- only upon a married man, Jewish-Christian Debate in
selves spiritual."
because an unmarried man the High Middle Ages: A
Thorough is the author's is but half a man and the Critical Edition of the Niz-
examination of the Chris- `Shechina' does not rest
Vetus with an Intro-
tian and Jewish views on upon that which is imper- zahon
duction,
Translation, and
marriage. He points out fect."
Commentary."
human beings . . .
"The couple striving to
approximate an ideal be-
yond accomplishment will
reap richer rewards by far
than if they were satisfied
just to improvise year by
year."
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Yom Hashoa Introspective
Time for Actor James Caan
-
—
"La Ronde" in 1961. He
made his screen debut in
"Lady in a Cage" for
Paramount in 1964 opposite
Olivia de Havilland and
Ann Southern.
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